What does fear of Allah and love of Allah mean?

One of the divine principles that Islam teaches people is to love Allah but to fear him as well.

The believer should be connected to His Lord, whose bounties, grace and generosity are endless, with a great love and respect; he should think that His compassion and mercy surrounds everything, and he should not give up hope of being forgiven no matter what his sins are. Although the mercy, love and compassion of Allah are endless, he should not forget that his fury and torture is severe and he should fear Him and should beware of His punishment.

The extreme fear causes despair, that is, hopelessness. To be extremely hopeful leads man to heedlessness and ignoring his end. Therefore, it is forbidden to feel safe from the torture of Allah and to give up hope of the mercy of Allah in our religion.

Then, the heart of the believer should beat between fear and hope in the presence of his Lord with the excitement of being a slave worthy of Him.

In the Quran and hadiths, that characteristic of believers is pointed out as follows:

“Believers hope for His Mercy and fear His Wrath...” (al-Isra, 57).

“ I know Allah the best and I fear Allah the most from among you.” (Bukhari, Adab 72; Muslim, Fadail 35)

“It is wajib (obligatory) for me to love those who love each other for me.” (Muwatta, Shiir 6; Musnad V, 233)

That state which shows the maturity of belief is called bayna’l-khawf wa’r-raja, that is, the state of being between fear and hope.

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The Messenger of Allah went near a young man who was about to die. He asked him:

– How do you feel, O young man? The young man said:

– O Messenger of Allah! I am hopeful of Allah but I fear my sins.

The Messenger of Allah said the following:

– When hope and fear come together in the heart of a slave, Allah will definitely give that person what he hopes and makes him safe from what he is afraid of.

(Tirmidhi)

The highest point of belief in Allah is not reached by only loving Allah or fearing Him. Both of them should be together. Man can only be freed from the coyness and caprice that love causes and the frenzy and disobedience that reliance in the mercy of Allah causes only by fearing Allah...

What will save man from the state of despair and hopelessness that only fear will give is the belief in the love, vastness of mercy and eternity of forgiveness of Allah. Therefore, the following sentence is often uttered: “The beginning of good deeds is the love of Allah; the beginning of wisdom is fearing Allah” (Ajluni, Kashful-Khafa 1/421).

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“When a companion asked:

– O Messenger of Allah! How will I protect myself from Hell?, our Prophet replied as follows:

– By your tears. The fire of Hell will never touch the eye that cries due to the fear of Allah.”

(Ibn Abiddunya)

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“If one person from a nation cries due to the fear of Allah, the whole nation is shown mercy. The reward of each worshipping except tears has some amount and weight. However, a drop of tear can extinguish hellfire as big as oceans.”

(Bayhaqi)

In fact, fear of Allah is as delightful and enjoyable as love of Allah.

The taste and flavor of the fear of Allah is explained as follows:

“A person with knowledge of Allah takes pleasure from impotence, from fear of Allah. Yes, there is pleasure in fear. If a twelve-month baby was sufficiently intelligent and it was asked him: "What is most pleasurable and sweetest for you?", he might well say: "To realize my powerlessness and helplessness, and fearing my mother's gentle smack to at the same time take refuge in her tender breast." However, the compassion of all mothers is but a flash of the manifestation of Divine Mercy. It is for this reason that the wise have found such pleasure in impotence and fear of Allah that they have vehemently declared themselves free of their own strength and power, and have taken refuge in Allah through their powerlessness. They have made powerlessness and fear an intercessor for themselves....” (Sözler: Words)

Our Prophet stated the following about loving Allah and fearing Allah:

• “If the believer had known the amount of the torture and punishment of Allah, nobody would have hoped for Paradise. If the unbeliever had known how much the amount of the mercy of Allah was, no one would have given up hope of His mercy.”

• “Paradise is nearer to you than your shoelaces. So is Hell...”

• “As the milk does not go back into the breast, a person who cries due to the fear of Allah will not go to Hell. The dust that occurs while fighting for Allah and the smoke of Hell do not come together.”

• “There is nothing more valuable than two drops and two marks in the presence of Allah.

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“Hellfire is haram for two eyes: the eye that cries due to the fear of Allah, and the eye that keeps guard in order to protect Islam and Muslims from unbelievers.” (Hakim)

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Two eyes are very valuable in the presence of Allah. One is the eye that cries due to his sins fearing Allah. The other is the one who keeps guard in order to protect the honor, property and lives of Muslims from the enemy and to defend the country.

Two drops:

• Tear that flows from the eye due to the fear of Allah,

• Blood shed in the way of Allah.

As for the two marks:

• Mark (scar) received in the way of Allah,

• Mark that occurs while fulfilling a fard of Allah.”

• “None of you should die without hoping that Allah will forgive you.”